Tuesday, July 16, 2013

A new obsession

Like so many of you, I started Cross Stitching in the 80's. My first project in the summer of 1987 was a Teddy Bear alphabet wall hanging that I made, intending to give to the first grandchild on my side of the family, who was set to arrive in October 1987. I took that project with me to my boyfriend's softball games and would stitch in between games. In the end, my Mom wouldn't let me give it to my new born nephew - I needed to save it for my own kids. Mom said I had way too much work in that piece to give it away. That boyfriend became my husband, 10 years later we had our daughter and I hated that cross stitch piece! I'm now saying that I'm saving it for our grandchildren.

Shortly after starting the Cross Stitch obsession, I decided on the Floss*A*Way bags as my way to organize my growing collection of DMC threads.

When JoAnn's had floss 4/$1.00 back in the early 1990's I would buy several skeins on each visit. Did I really need to have every single color? Have I ever used every single color?

NO! But I have them, just in case.....

Move aside DMC

I've found a new love (maybe I should be real and say addiction)

Simply Shaker Threads.

Oh Wow! is all I can say about these threads. They are dyed to give a slight variation in the color in stitching projects. It's a very subtle variation that I will compare to highlighting and shading in painting.

My collection at the moment is only about 20 skeins, but I will be adding to it!

One of my favorite designers is Pineberry Lane. Most of Wendy's patterns that I have use the Simply Shaker Threads. My current project is Autumn on Marigold Lane by Pineberry Lane. The flowers in the big urn are stitched with just one thread color - Autumn Leaves and they are so pretty in person.

If you are looking for a source for the Simply Shaker Threads, may I suggest Rachelle of The Cottage Needle, found on Etsy HERE. Rachelle is wonderful, she has a great selection of patterns, fabrics and threads.

Thought I'd show you a mistake that I made. I stained this piece just a "tad" too dark with coffee. I was just sick, as I can't even tell where my stitching is or what it's supposed to say. UGH. How many hours did I spend on this one? I couldn't even think about it.

"Kindred Spirits" by Primitive Needle

I was so afraid after baking the piece in the oven that the coffee stain would be permanently set. What did I have to lose? I took it to the sink and started running room temperature water over the piece. Enough of the stain washed out that I can now see my stitching! YAY! Happy Day.

I have a frame ready for this, just need to mount it on the mat board - my least favorite part of finishing.

10 comments:

Thank goodness you managed to save that piece. It takes so long to cross stitch (for me anyway) I did it a lot in the 80's too. Last summer I tried to start again but I found it just too small after rug hooking.

I love how your piece turned out Ann - so old looking. Sometimes mistakes turn out don't they.I looked on the Etsy site for Simply Shaker Threads and they aren't listed anywhere. I even put 'Simply Shaker Threads.' in the search box on her site. Any idea???